TOOLKIT.

Sometimes, the right clothes can make the sale

June 13, 2001|By Dallas Morning News.

Mark Rednick remembers a sales meeting he had a few years ago in which he was trying to persuade a company to use his recruiting firm.

He wore a suit and tie.

"I get over there, and there are 300 employees," said Rednick, president of Sales Consultants of Dallas. "Every single one of them has on a cowboy hat. Every single person has on boots, and every male has a belt buckle like he just won the rodeo."

Rednick and others say knowing how to dress is as important for salespeople as knowing how to make a sales pitch. But keeping up with a client's fashion sense has gotten more challenging as casual office dress has become more pervasive.

"I would say in the last, maybe, 10 years, it's changed to where there is no particular dress code these days," said Deborah Brannon, regional sales manager for Pro-Line International Inc., a Dallas ethnic hair-care company.

But with that freedom has come more responsibility, she said, and salespeople need to take the time to learn what their customers' personal tastes are, including how they like to dress.

"For example, if you're selling to a financial institution, then you would be more conservative," she said. "But if I'm selling fishing and tackle gear, I would probably intimidate the guy showing up in Versace. He's probably going to have on Dockers and a shirt."

Daryl Hammett, area operations manager for Whataburger Inc., said that dress is important for salespeople because well-chosen clothes can make a potential customer more comfortable and more willing to develop a relationship. That will pay back not only in initial sales, but also in customer loyalty, he said.

"Some people want you to dress like they dress," Rednick said. "Other people want you to come in and look professional. They want to see your best stuff."